Letter: The MTA Has My Money

For you city-goers and commuter folk, guess what? It will now cost you $2.75 to ride the subway and $6.50 to take the bus. On Jan. 21, the MTA approved an absurd fare and toll hike that will take effect March 22. While it will only be raised by a quarter, that adds up pretty quickly. It is insane that with all of the problems, delays and derailments that the MTA has the nerve to steal money out of the commuter’s pocket. Of course the LIRR and Metro-North will raise fares by four percent as well. I estimate that my monthly commute from Seaford will now cost me close to $300. Not including my monthly subway fare for the seven stops I have to take downtown to my office. And forget about driving in; they’ll get you there too. How can we be encouraged to live the American Dream—which is dead in my opinion—when the blue-collar, middle class worker has to hold down two or maybe three jobs to make extra money just to go to job number one? Unfortunately, there’s no way around this lunacy and the prices are only going to keep rising. So what’s a commuter to do?